The heart wants what it wants
by GallifreyanDemigoddess
Summary: Cassiopeia Salvatore returned to Mystic Falls to spend more time with her family and to help them with their never ending problems. There she meets the Originals. She befriends them, much to Damon's dismay. But, as new problems starts to unfold, Cassiopeia faces the worst: falling in love. But in the end...what will prevail? Romantic love, or Family love? Slightly AU.
1. The Ball

_—...My father called me last night. He told me he missed me and he told me about the past year in Mystic Falls. He says they need my help, which doesn't surprise me. Sometimes I wonder if he really misses me or if he just calls me when he needs somethi__ng. __Anyhow, I'm going back to Mystic Falls. I really miss my father, I don't really care about anything else they need my help with, I just want to see him, and uncle Stefan too...It's been so long...— _

~Extract from Cassiopeia's Diary~

* * *

Seeing the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sing, Cassiopeia Salvatore sighed.

Ever since her father had called her she'd been more than worried. After everything her family had been trough in that damned town they were back there...They surely were masochists. And all because of that Katherine doppelgänger, Elena.

Cassiopeia hadn't been excited upon hearing how her father and her uncle were both in love with the doppelgänger of the woman that destroyed their lives. But...like a good daughter, Cassiopeia quickly left her apartment on New York and headed for Mystic Falls when her father called.

When she approached the Salvatore Boarding House, the feels invaded her, and she couldn't help but simply stare at the house that so long ago had been her own too. She remembered the good times she spent there, and with that the bad times came into her memory too, and that gave her the strength she needed.

After exiting her car, Cassiopeia approached the Boarding House's door with her heart thumping. She was nervous about seeing her father again, after all they went trough, and all their fights...It was one thing to talk over the phone, but now she was actually going to see her father after more than 20 years without seeing each other.

She knocked the door twice before realizing the house was empty. With a sight of sudden relief after realizing she had more time to prepare to see her father again, she opened the door and stepped inside.

Looking around she smiled sadly. Everything was exactly like it'd been last time she was there. Some things were missing, others were new, but it was still the same place she used to love so much.

"Home sweet home," she whispered into the air.

Dragging her baggage behind her, she went upstairs to her room. Opening the door and stepping inside she had to gasp. Her room had been renovated. Before, it used to match her childish taste and stuff, now, it looked like a totally new room with new things from the year. Looking around, she saw some of her things remained untouched.

"Thank you, dad," she said softly, dropping her baggage on the bed and looking around to see what else could be new.

Glancing towards the new mirror on her bathroom, she saw a note with an envelope at its side. She took the note first, recognising her father's signature.

_We're at the ball. _

_See you there, _

_D. S. _

Cassiopeia frowned. "A ball?"

Opening the specially craved envelope, she saw a fancy invitation to some ball held at the Mikaelson's mansion.

"The Originals' ball," she said softly, to the groan and roll her eyes.

Of course her father would be attending to the ball, Elena received an invitation to it, so both Stefan and Damon would go and play to be her bodyguards.

So predictable.

Twisting the invitation around, she saw the Salvatore's name included there, along with a plus one. She was the plus one. She scoffed tiredly, but made her way towards the bath to prepare herself for the ball.

If her father wanted her there, she'll be there.

...{}...

Getting out of her car, Cassiopeia felt her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Maybe too loudly, but she didn't cared. She was scared, she'd heard rumours about how deadly the Originals were, and attending their party uninvited, and without really knowing why or where her father was...It scared her to make an error and die there at the hands of any Original.

She sighed, trying to woman up and find courage. She started to walk towards the mansion, her heels clicking against the floor, making two of the humans there at the reception look at her. "Invitation?"

She held up the invitation her father left her. "I'm the plus one."

After looking at it, both humans nodded, and stepped aside opening the door for her. She took a deep breath, smiling in thanks at the humans, and stepped inside.

The mansion was even more beautiful inside. Soft fine music could be heard among with some conversations people she didn't knew were having. For a second she didn't knew what to do.

She was new in town, she didn't knew anybody there...

But glancing towards where the drinks were, she was glad to see a familiar face. She started to walk towards the mayor of the town, Carol Lockwood. "Hey, you're Carol Lockwood, right?" Cassiopeia smiled politely.

The mayor turned to her, and nodded. "Yes. And you are?"

"I'm Cassiopeia Salvatore," she introduced herself, shaking Carol's hand. "I'm new in town." "Salvatore, as in...?"

"Damon and Stefan? Yes," Cassiopeia smiled.

For a second Carol was too surprised to say anything else, and Cassiopeia took advantage of that. "So, I have a question, and I hope it doesn't come out too boldly. How come the Mayor of this town—a member of the council, is attending a vampire party without any hesitation or fright or actually doing anything."

Carol only smiled pleasantly, taking a sip of her drink. "I'm the mayor, Cassiopeia. When the oldest, deadliest family of vampires moves into your town, you welcome them with a smile."

"Hmmm..." Cassiopeia replied, copying her smile. "Well, at least you know who you're borrowing that cup of sugar from."

Carol turned to her with a small glare. "I already had this conversation with Damon, Miss Salvatore. But if you must know, I'm only trying to protect this town. They've assured me they want peace, and I've assured them that I'd enforce it."

Cassiopeia's interest perked at the mention of Damon. "Where is him?"

"Who?"

"Damon," Cassiopeia said.

"Oh, he's with Elena and Stefan." Carol replied, pointing to the entrance. "Excuse me, I'm going to greet a friend."

Cassiopeia turned, and rage shook her body when she saw both Damon and Stefan escorting a Katherine look alike. Her dress was beautiful, but Cassiopeia could only think of how much she looked like Katherine, and of how much she wanted to smack her father for falling for her.

"They never learn," she said bitterly, not noticing how someone had approached her, and was standing just at her side. Looking more at her father, she swallowed, only then realizing how much she'd actually missed him.

"Beautiful girl, huh?" the stranger said referring to Elena Gilbert.

Cassiopeia scoffed, without bothering to turn towards him. "I beg to differ."

The stranger chuckled. "I believe we haven't met," he said, his voice heavy with an accent, a hand stretching towards Cassiopeia. "I'm Kol Mikaelson."

Cassiopeia turned. The stranger was a handsome young man with brown hair and brown eyes. For what she've heard Kol was the most unstable and sadistic of the Originals. Fin was the one that hated being a vampire, Elijah was the moral one, Klaus was the evil hybrid, Kol was the sadistic crazy one, and Rebekah was the one that craved love and affection.

"Oh...Pleasure to meet you," Cassiopeia said, blinking her surprise, "I'm Cassiopeia Salvatore."

Kol kissed her hand, and Cassiopeia felt the slightest doubt in herself. Looking at Kol Mikaelson, she found that his face was quite familiar. "Have we met before?"

"I've met lots of people before," Kol replied, a smirk appearing on his face. "But I think I'd remember meeting a beauty like you."

With that he was gone, leaving Cassiopeia to raise her eyebrows. She was sure she'd seen him before...but it wasn't possible, Kol had been daggered for 900 years, and Cassiopeia herself hadn't been around for that much. So she shrugged it off, turning back to where her father had been with the doppelgänger and Stefan, only to find them gone.

She groaned in frustration, why did her father invited her to the ball if she wasn't going to actually have the chance to talk to him?

"Uh, if anyone could gather, please."

Everyone started to walk towards the voice, and Cassiopeia followed. On the beautiful staircase the Originals awaited for their big speech. As they waited for the rest of the people to approach, Cassiopeia had a chance to observe the Originals.

They were just as handsome as beautiful as she expected, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol and Rebekah Mikaelson. Looking at them, she felt her heart thump even more loudly as she got nervous again.

"I'm telling you, you're not going there alone," a familiar voice said in the distance, and Cassiopeia turned.

She saw Damon, Stefan and Elena approaching too along with a beautiful blonde girl, Caroline, if Cassiopeia remembered correctly, and a human boy, probably Matt.

"Welcome. Thank you for joining us."

Cassiopeia tore her gaze away from her father and glanced at the Originals. The Original Witch, Esther, the mother of the Originals, was comming down the stairs in that moment. When she first heard of her, Cassiopeia thought of an old lady with murder issues, but Esther was none of that. She was beautiful and sort of young.

"You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this," the original continued, "It's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom."

The one talking was the first to come downstairs. Not knowing anyone there, Cassiopeia glanced around, searching for where her uncle Stefan used to be to dance with him, or even with her father. In the distance, she saw her father having a small discussion with the doppelgänger. She thought about approaching them, but she didn't wanted to speak to the doppelgänger, so she simply resigned to be the only one there not to dance, which could be seen as a rude gesture.

"Excuse me," someone put a hand on her back. "Would you like to dance with me?"

She turned. The Original that had been talking was the one that asked her to dance. Looking at him, Cassiopeia saw the same brown hair and eyes that Kol had, but this one was very much handsome in its own way. "Sure."

They took positions to dance, half of the couples at one side, and the other in the other side. Cassiopeia felt a little nervous having to dance with an Original, something he seemed to notice, because the grip on her hand softened, and he smiled politely at her.

"I believe we've never met," the Original started as they moved softly along with the other couples in what was know as the beginning of the waltz. "I'm Elijah Mikaelson."

Cassiopeia nearly sighed in relief, it was the moral and polite Original. Instead, she smiled in his direction, and introduced herself, carefully avoiding to say her last name, "Pleasure to meet you, Elijah. I'm Cassiopeia."

They moved together along with the other couples. They passed in the middle of the couples of the other side, she smiling when she passed her uncle Stefan, and he saw her. His eyes widened, but he continued to move with his dance partner. Cassiopeia briefly wondered how the humans dancing knew how to dance that specific dance. It wasn't easy, Cassiopeia herself only knew how to because she had been born around the time were the most populate dance was the waltz.

"May I ask who invited you?" Elijah asked with a spark of interest. "I've never seen you around."

"My father," the woman replied, "I'm his plus one."

The men all spin their partners, Cassiopeia's body fell perfectly on Elijah's, her right hand going to his shoulder, the other one on his own hand. Elijah's other hand on her waist.

They started to dance, along with the other couples.

"It's a beautiful party."

"It is," Elijah agreed.

Her breath hitched when she saw her father dancing with the doppelgänger just at her side. Anger overcome her as she remembered her first ball, where she was supposed to dance with Damon, but he had been too busy dancing with Katherine to mind that it was his daughter birthday.

"For someone new in town you certainly seem to hate some of its habitants already."

"She reminds me of someone I hate," Cassiopeia explained softly, blinking back to Elijah.

He was watching her carefully, like he was trying to understand something. "You've met Katerina."

It didn't sounded like a question, but Cassiopeia nodded. "She destroyed my life. Because of her my father is a vampire, along with my uncle."

"And you?"

"My father transformed me when I was dying," Cassiopeia said softly, unsure of why she was sharing such personal things with an Original Vampire, apart from the fact that she just admitted to being a vampire. "Uh, anyway. I don't intend on boring you with past things."

"It is quite alright."

They danced for a couple of minutes in silence.

Elijah was the first to break the silence, "If I might ask, what did you do to have both Salvatore brothers staring at you like that?"

Cassiopeia followed his gaze, and it landed on an angry looking Damon, still dancing with Elena. She couldn't see Stefan, but she suspected his gaze was a little less intimidating than Damon'.

"Its a long story," Cassiopeia said softly, turning back to Elijah. "We go way back."

"Hmmm."

"Do you know them?" Cassiopeia asked, even tough she knew the answer to that.

Her father had made sure to fill her in on everything happening ever since his return to Mystic Falls. She knew of the deals they've made with Elijah, and how he'd protected them some times. But still, she found herself curious as to what he could say about them.

"We have the same common interest, the Salvatore brothers and I," Elijah replied.

"Hmmm, if I might say, I don't see what could an Original have in common with two arrogant vampires," Cassiopeia mock whispered, leaning into Elijah one last time before she was spun around, into the arms of her new dance partner, a nice looking human.

Glancing back at Elijah, she simply smiled at him.

They danced for a while before the first dance ended. Cassiopeia exited the ballroom then, too tired and bored to dance again. She went to the bar and made herself a drink.

After a while, Stefan and the doppelgänger came back, unfortunately seeing Cassiopeia.

"So it is really you," Stefan said, uncharacteristically cold . "Cassie?"

"Hey, old man, long time no see," Cassiopeia replied, turning back with a tense smile.

"What are you doing here?"

"I called her," Damon said, appearing.

Cassiopeia's anger flared at the questioning look the doppelgänger send her. For some seconds, Damon only looked at Cassiopeia, unsure of how to react around her, specially after everything they went trough the last time they were together. They settled with a tense smile and a nod.

"Who's that?" the doppelgänger asked.

"I could ask the same thing," Cassiopeia said bitterly, looking directly into her father's eyes. "I thought you were over Katherine. Really low to be dating her doppelgänger, huh?"

"We're not dating," Elena said, frowning awkwardly, after stealing a glance at Stefan. "Who are you? Is she...one of your ex girlfriends?"

"Worst," Damon said, still not breaking eye contact with his daughter. That made the younger vampire smirk. Yes, she was definitely worst than any of Damon's ex girlfriend. "I can get rid of annoying girlfriends, with Cassie that's not possible."

"We should go upstairs," Elena said then, clearly annoyed with being ignored.

Cassiopeia rose her eyebrows at her father, but he just shrugged. Stefan shared a long look with Elena, and nodded subtly.

Once upstairs, they entered an empty room, and before Cassie could opened her mouth to ask why they were there, Stefan appeared besides Damon in a blink, and snapped his neck. Cassie gasped at Stefan, who then snapped her neck without any hesitation.

...

Cassiopeia groaned as she regained her senses. Damon was slapping her face to wake her up, he looked so annoyed that Cassiopeia restrained herself from making a sarcastic comment about how Stefan snapped their necks.

"Easy, buddy," Stefan's voice called. "Don't want you doing anything stupid."

In a second, Damon was grabbing Stefan by his throat, pinning him against the wall. "Where's Elena?"

"Exactly where she belongs, talking with Esther."

"What did you do?" Damon pushed him rougher against the wall.

"Ah, don't blame me. This was all her," Stefan pushed Damon away from himself. "Right down to the broken neck."

"I can't believe this...neither of you have changed," Cassiopeia whispered in shock. "You're both still fighting over one girl!"

"Wake up, princess, people don't change," Damon snapped, not bothering to turn towards her.

Cassiopeia, unable to stand being there with the fighting brothers anymore, she disappeared from the room in a blink. Slowing down to a human pace, she started to walk downstairs, her only wish being to get away from there.

...

Elijah was taught from a young age to be a gentleman and polite and moral. He still was, even after he was transformed, so when he saw the lovely lady whom shared a dance with him going away with tears on her eyes and looking very distressed and upset, he quickly approached, worried that it had to do with one of his brothers or his sister.

"Cassiopeia, everything alright?"

She sniffled, halting to a stop, sighing before answering. "My uncle just snapped my neck, and my father is too centred on the doppelgänger to care about the fact that we hadn't seen each other in more than 20 years...no, Elijah, I'm not okay." she sighed deeply, closing her eyes to stop the frustrated tears. "I thought things changed between them, but they're still the idiots I run away from in the first place."

Elijah stared a her for a second before putting his hand on her back and guiding back to the party. "Come on, let's get you a drink."

Upon reaching the bar, he handed her a drink, one she took gladly. "Thank you."

"This might not be the right time to ask, but I must know. You mentioned your father and uncle, and a doppelgänger. Are you...?"

"A Salvatore? Yes. I'm Damon's daughter."

Elijah rose his eyebrows, feeling very curious. Vampires couldn't breed, so that meant Damon had her when he was still human, and for all he knew Katherine had been his first love, or that's what Klaus said Stefan told him. Nevertheless, he smirked at the woman in front of him, "My condolences."

Cassiopeia smirked too, taking another sip of her drink. Their eyes met, and she changed her smirk for a nice smile, one he returned with one of his owns.

Looking around, he saw the people starting to walk towards the stairs again.

"Let's go back, shall we? I suspect my mother is about to make a speech." Elijah said.

They started to walk together.

"Your mother," Cassiopeia nodded, like she just remembered about her, "Are you happy your mother is back?"

He paused for a second, thinking of how to express himself. "I am happy she's back."

"But?" Elijah hesitated again, and Cassiopeia noticed it. "You know, I'm new in town. I don't know anybody, so, I guess you can trust in me. It's not like I have someone to tell whatever you'll say."

Pursing his lips, Elijah breathed a long uncharacteristic sigh. "I don't fully trust her, I don't understand how after years of being trapped in the other side watching all of our wrong doings she forgave us so quickly."

"You'd be a fool if you trusted her. It's normal to feel uneasy, you are quite right in your point. I don't see how she's so calm about everything."

"And she asked to speak with Elena privately," Elijah added.

"That's suspicious," Cassiopeia said, rising her eyebrows slightly. "Why would she want to talk to her, and in private?"

"My thoughts exactly."

Feeling the back of her beck tingling, she turned slightly, and saw Damon staring at her. With a sight, she looked at Elijah. "Excuse me, Elijah. It appears my father is angry at me."

Approaching her father, Cassiopeia took place at his side, and they both watched as Esther entered in all her glory, to make a speech. Damon had a firm grip on her elbow, making her feel like she was a little girl who just did something wrong.

"What was that?" Damon hissed at her.

"What was what?" Cassiopeia hissed back, shaking her arm until Damon hesitantly dropped his grip on her.

"You were being all smiley and flirty towards Elijah," Damon said. "I don't like it."

Cassiopeia snorted unladylike. "For goodness sake, dad, it's called being polite, not flirting."

"It looked like flirting to me," Damon muttered.

"Everything looks like flirting to you." she snorted again, to which Damon had to agree silently.

As Cassiopeia accepted the champagne a waiter brought her for the glass raising, she heard one heart beating exaggeratedly fast, missing some beats. She looked around, searching for the owner of the heart. Instead, she met Elijah's gaze, and he discretely looked at Elena, then back at Cassiopeia. The Salvatore girl understood, and narrowed her eyes.

"Stop with the look sharing," Damon hissed. "I don't like it."

"Why don't you mind your own business?" Cassiopeia hissed back.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Waiters are coming 'round with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one." Esther said. "I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening." something on Esther's smile changed. "Cheers."

They all muttered "Cheers" back as they raised their glasses.

Elena looked back at Damon from her spot at Elijah's side, and Cassiopeia gritted her teeth.

"Don't do that," Damon reprimanded.

Cassiopeia turned back to him, frowning. "What?"

"She's not Katherine, Cassie. She's a whole different person, please give her a chance." Damon said softly. "My feelings for her are real, just do it for me."

Cassiopeia sighed exasperatedly. "Fine. But you tell her about us."

"Okay," Damon said, accepting the deal. It was better to have Elena know Cassiopeia is his daughter than to have Cassiopeia judging Elena before knowing her. What was going to be hard was explaining that he had a daughter when he was human. "I'm...glad you're here."

Cassiopeia turned to him surprised. The old him would never admit that, "I'm surprised you care."

Damon pursed his lips, slightly annoyed. "Why is everyone saying that?"

...

Once Damon disappeared again to stalk Elena and ask her about what she spoke with Esther, Cassiopeia was left alone once again.

She made her way towards Elijah once she saw him talking with the mayor.

"Hey," she smiled at both.

"Hey," Elijah turned to her, "Carol, could you excuse us?"

"Of course." the mayor left, and Cassiopeia rose her eyebrows at the Original in front of her.

"What?" she asked confusedly.

"Elena is lying to me," Elijah said.

"I know, I heard her heart," Cassiopeia nodded, pursing her lips. "You think it's something bad she is lying?"

"I need to know my mother's conversation with her, I have this feeling...I don't think it was a pleasant conversation. At least not for us," his eyes moved to the rest of his brothers, "You're Damon's daughter."

"Yes..." Cassiopeia said hesitantly, not liking how meticulous his voice sounded. "I told you I am."

"And Damon loves Elena," Elijah continued.

"What's your point?" Cassiopiea crossed her arms over her chest, hating to hear that.

"You said I could trust you," Elijah said, referring to their conversation before Esther's speech. "Is it true?"

"Uh...yes."

"Can I trust that you'll tell me whatever Elena tells Damon about her meeting with my mother?" Elijah asked, his brown eyes staring into Cassiopeia's icy blue ones.

She saw the real worry on them, and she swallowed. He was so worried about his mother's real intentions that he was asking a mere stranger for help. That was sad. And yet, she understood it perfectly, if it was the other way around she'll trust anyone with vital information about her father.

Cassiopeia bit her lips before nodding slowly. "Yes, of course. You have my word,"

His face broke into a relieved smile. "Thank you."

...

The rest of the evening was quite good, Cassiopeia spend it talking to everyone and meeting important people of town.

At the moment, Cassiopeia was talking to a nice and funny boy, she was chuckling, "Yeah, that's true, but—" A window broke. And she heard his father's voice along with a neck cracking sound that worried her. "Excuse me, please, I think my father just did something very stupid."

She quickly moved outside. Standing next to the Mikaelson' and the doppelgänger, she pursed her lips when she saw her father, and of course, he snapped Kol Mikaelson's neck.

"Damon," Cassiopeia hissed, calling him by his name, "Are you completely out of your mind?"

"Maybe," Damon shrugged, sparing his daughter a glance before looking back at Elena, "Far be it for me to cause a problem."

He turned and swaggered away.

Cassiopeia hissed in annoyance, and followed him, not after giving her uncle a look, one that clearly warned him to go too before Kol gained consciousness.

And off she went, chasing her father like she always did.


	2. The promise

Cassiopeia sighed in annoyance as she excited The Grill.

When she followed her father she expected to have chat with him, and maybe talk about themselves, about their relationship, or even talk about trivial things. Anything to calm him down, but as always, Damon was being difficult. His anger at Elena's words making him all erratic once again.

And if there was something Cassiopeia couldn't stand was her father when he was being cold and snarky and a pain in the ass.

Her father was still inside the Grill, drowning himself in alcohol and flirting with the blonde Original. Cassiopeia could literally feel the sexual tension emanating from both vampires, so she quickly left, not wanting to see how her father seduced some chick.

Once inside her car, Cassiopeia sighed deeply, closing her eyes as she felt her shoulders weighing down with stress.

The minute she entered Mystic Falls she knew her life would be completely different and full of problems, but holy crap, it hadn't even been 24 hours and her father had already dragged her into a problem.

She knew snapping Kol's neck was going to cost her father a lot. She traveled around enough to know that the young Original was an erratic one. One of the most sadistic vampires on the history of vampires. And her father had angered him.

Sighing again, Cassiopeia waved a hand trough her black locks, making her once perfectly pinned down hair a messy mess.

The other thing stressing her was the promise she made to Elijah.

She promised to tell him about Esther's plan, which she still didn't knew. For all she knew Esther's plan could be dangerous, or even good for her family. The thing was...whatever it was she will have to tell Elijah.

She promised, and she never breaks her promises.

It was a small thing that haunted her. No matter what the promise was, she always tried not to break it. And if she ever did, the guilt consumed her to the point of wanting to turn off her emotions.

It was something she had inherited from her mother—or that's what Damon used to tell her when she was younger.

Sighing once again, Cassiopeia started her car and started to drive. It wasnt long before she arrived at the Boarding House. Getting out of her car, she took her purse and headed inside. In the porch she realised she didn't had any keys. She tried the lock, and it gave away.

"Great, Dad, Uncle Stefan, leave the door unlocked," Cassiopeia sighed. "Considering all the enemies you two have I'm surprised this place hadn't been blown up yet."

Closing the door behind herself she adjusted her eyes to the darkness of the hall before finding the light switches and turning the light on. Once she did she left her purse on the counter besides Damon's expensive bourbon bottles in the parlour.

The long stretching silence made Cassiopeia uncomfortable. She was used to the loud streets and apartments in New York, not to this coldness and this silence.

It was obvious she was the only one in the house. Stefan probably was at his girlfriend's house, and Damon was still at The Grill with Rebekah.

She made her way upstairs. Closing her room door behind herself and locking herself there, she kicked her high heels to the other end of the room, feeling relief once her sore feet collided with the cold floor.

She walked towards her baggage, carefully dropping it on the floor. She sat in front of it, and upon opening it she started to unpack. Just as carefully as she put the baggage on the floor, she folded her clothes all around herself before getting up and putting it on her drawers.

When she was finished she headed towards her bathroom to take a long relaxing bath. She needed it to relax herself and to lose that stress she started to feel the moment she collided with her father.

...

Cassiopeia was lucky she had already dressed herself when the moaning next door started. Shuddering with the unwanted mental pictures of her father having sex with Rebekah, she quickly excited the house, making sure to slam the door loudly enough for her father to know she was there and going out—too traumatised with what she heard.

Half annoyed with having to leave her own house, Cassiopeia walked around in the woods for some minutes, lost in her toughts. She looked around fondly, remembering the good times she used to have in her youth back there with her family.

She remember her uncle Stefan always making her laugh, and helping her when she lost control over blood. It was beacuse of him, too, that she found her passion for books and writings. He gave her her first diary, and then gave her his "blessing" when she decided she wanted to study literature.

She also remembered her father, Damon, always making her feel safe and showing her a soft side no one had ever seen. He was the best father someone could ask for, even when he was being an asshole and when he had his emotions off, he cared for her, and she knew it. And it was enough for both of them.

When Stefan or Lexi couldn't help her with her blood lust—read, when she became a vampire, the first two months were pure hell—Damon found a way to help her overcome her blood lust, and eventually taught her all his little tricks.

"You know," a voice with a thick accent snapped her out of her memories, startling Cassiopeia to the point of her feeling her dead heart jump and beat furiously in her chest. Turning around, she saw Kol Mikaelson resting his back against a tree as he crossed his arms in front of himself. "I though you looked very hot with that blue dress of yours earlier. Now I realize I was wrong."

Despite feeling nervous of having him in front of her after her father snapped his neck, indignation arose in her. "Excuse me?"

"You look hotter like this," he smirked, eying her up and down.

From all the things, she blushed, making his smirk grow.

"But you know how you'll look hotter?" Kol continued.

"You know, I expected something different from someone who slept through the evolutions of flirting and catcalls." Cassiopeia regained herself, and rose one eyebrow as she eyed the younger of the Mikaelson' boys. "You flirt like some hormonal teenager from this century."

"Oh, I'm not flirting, darling, I'm simply noticing something." Kol smirked, mocking innocence. "Besides, you want old fashioned flirting? Call Elijah or Finn."

Cassiopeia swallowed at the mention of Elijah, remembering the promise she made. Kol noticed her change, but said nothing, instead he stared at her body in a not so subtle way, wishing to distract her from whatever was bothering her with Elijah.

"So, anyway, what were you going to say?" Cassiopeia asked, tilting her head at the look Kol was giving her. "How, you say, would I look hotter?"

"Naked beneath my sheets—"

Cassiopeia interrupted him, a smirk starting to appear on her face as she tauntingly approached him. "I like the thought of naked against this tree more—" she hadn't finished when Kol's body was tightly pressed against her own, her back being slammed against a tree so hard that she heard the tree behind her back creak.

"You know, darling," Kol smirked, taunting Cassiopeia as he licked his lips seductively, his accented voice giving Cassiopeia shivers. "I wanted to have you like this the second my eyes lay on you."

"Really?" Cassiopeia tried for a smirk, but she was too distracted by the way his lips moved so tauntingly and so close to her own. It had been a long time since someone as handsome as Kol had given her attention, and she was enjoying herself at that moment. After all, she thought, what better way to get rid of stress than to make out?

Their bodies were as close as they could get, Kol's legs tangling between Cassiopeia's tights. She wanted to wrap them against his waist, but before she could move, Kol lowered his face until their noses were touching, seductively bitting into her lower lip before pulling, his eyes never leaving hers.

A throaty growl escaped Cassiopeia's lips. She slammed her lips into his, both hands wrapping themselves on the back of his neck. He kissed her back just as passionately, enjoying her reaction. She wanted to protest when his lips left hers, but her argument died on her throat when his lips attacked her neck.

She leaned her head against the tree, giving Kol more access to her neck. He kissed it fervently, occasionally leaving soft bites that made her nervous. One thing was to make out and maybe have sex, but the bites worried her. They weren't hard enough to break skin, so he didn't exactly feed on her, and she was thankful, because that was intimate—she only liked to do it with people she loved deeply.

Cassiopeia moaned softly when Kol found a sweet spot on her neck, and that turned him even more. He growled tightly and upon guiding his hands towards the start of her shirt, he tugged it roughly, leaving her in her bra.

"I liked that shirt," she complained, taking a second to look at the ripped cloth that used to be her shirt.

"I liked it too," Kol said, looking down at it thoughtfully, "I'll buy you a new one."

Cassiopeia grabbed his face and kissed him as passionately as she could, one hand lowering itself until she found his jacket, and with his help she took it off him, their lips never separating as the kiss carried on.

Kol's hands carresed her sides, his touch leaving her skin burning with desire. One hand went to the back of her head as the kiss softened for a second. His other hand started to touch her breasts over her bra.

Cassiopeia took a deep breath once their lips separated. He grinned boyishly, and she found herself unable not to return his grin with one of her own.

He tugged his shirt off his body, and for a second Cassiopeia took him in, her eyes boring into his body. A smug smirk started to appear on his face, and he wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Like what you see, Cassie?"

"Hell, yeah," Cassiopeia breathed, a smirk forming into her lips, internally breathless at the way her name rolled out of his tongue.

Kol chuckled before approaching her again.

...

After more minutes of teasing, their kisses become erratic once again, their clothes disappearing completely in the darkness of the woods. Somehow Cassiopeia ended with her legs hooked around his waist as his mouth attached one of her breast, his naked body caressing her. She was panting softly, her whole body felt as if she was burning. Her desire growing erratic, she couldn't understand it—yes, she wanted sex with him, but somehow the way her whole body reacted to him was overwhelming, it was like it craved his touch, as if it couldn't have enough of it. It was driving her crazy.

And then, after teasingly rubbing her clit for some minutes—he entered her. Slowly at first, but once the pleasure increased he kept up a fast and hard pace. The woods were filled with moans and pants that night, pleasure aside, the intimacy of the moment made Cassiopeia feel something very deep. He kept kissing her in a soft way and sharing grins with her as she was reaching her orgasm, that along with the whispering of sweet nothings and dirty promises were overwhelming.

Kol came a few seconds later, grunting into her neck as he trusted for the last time. She hold onto his shoulders as she recovered her breath, her own face hiding on his chest. He caressed her back as he waited for her to recover, his male pride growing when he looked into her eyes, eyes he found were full of dizziness and pleasure. He loved the effect he had on her, even more when he thought that even after being stuck in a coffin for hundreds of years, he still could make a girl scream like he made her scream.

Recovering herself, she un-hooked her legs from his waist and stood carefully on her own feet. Kol blurred to get their clothes from the floor, and after throwing in her direction hers, he got dressed. Turning around, he enjoyed how Cassiopeia's clothes were practically ripped through pieces.

She rolled her eyes as she noticed he was enjoying himself as he watched her struggle with the ripped off clothes. He chuckled, taking his jacket off and giving it to Cassiopeia in an action that surprised him. She was surprised too, but accepted it, not wanting to bump into her father on her way to her room and for him to see her like that.

"Let's not make a big deal out of this, shall we, love?"

"Fine by me," Cassiopeia shrugged.

Before Kol could blurry away, Cassiopeia approached him and getting on her tiptoes she kissed his lips gently, surprising him by the gesture. He looked down at her, his brown eyes boring into her icy blue ones.

"I had a great time," Cassiopeia said.

Kol smirked, but it held no mock or malice towards her. "Me too, love."

...

The next morning, Cassiopeia groaned in annoyance as she heard someone else entering the Boarding House.

She was tired, and Rebekah had accidentally woken up her early in the morning as she searched for a bathroom—apparently Damon had been using his, so Rebekah needed one. Cassiopeia left her use hers, blushing madly once Rebekah returned, Kol's jacket on her hands.

"Had a good nigh, huh?" she had said, her tone didn't held any malice, just pure curiosity as she smirked.

Cassiopeia smirked back, not feeling ashamed in any way. "Totally."

After they shared a smirk, Rebekah left, and Cassiopeia went back to bed.

But, now the Boarding House was once again invaded by someone—Elena Gilbert.

Cassiopeia got up from bed, looking around for proper clothes to change her pijamas, but she stopped once she heard her father's conversation with the doppelgänger. Sensing it had something to do with last night incident, she headed downstairs in silence, forgetting all thoughts about changing into proper clothes.

"Well, maybe, for once, something I did had nothing to do with you."

From her spot in the stairs she could see their faces, and hear them. Judging by Damon's face, he didn't see her there. He rose his drink in Elena's direction, making her purse her lips in annoyance. She looked very sour and hurt, and Cassiopeia wondered...why did she looked like that if she didn't loved Damon?

"You should know..." she paused for a second, a hevay sigh scaping her throat, "that Esther is planning on killing her entire family. She's linked them all together with a spell. Whatever happens to one, happens to all of them."

Cassiopeia's eyes opened widely, and she stood there in shock for a second. Her mind raced, Esther was going to kill them all—Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah...she had them all linked together. She found herself overwhelmed with the information, not knowing what to do or say.

"Well, that's great! Klaus will finally be dead. We win." Damon drank from his drink again, unpreocupied. "Why do you look like someone just shot a panda bear?"

"Uh, because to kill Klaus she has to kill all of them, including Elijah. And he doesn't deserve this!" Elena said, her face incredulous at Damon's attitude. Klaus she understood, but the rest of them? They didn't even knew them, and Elijah—Elijah was different from them. He didn't deserved to die like that.

Cassiopeia swallowed, thinking about her promise to Elijah. She promised to tell him, and now she knows...oh dear God, what was she supposed to do? She had to tell him, but how?

Looking at her father's face she realised he didn't cared about them, he didn't cared about the Originals dying at all...She knew then that if she wanted to keep her promise, she either had to do it behind his father's back or she had to find a way to change her father's mind. And the last was something unlikely to happen, his father was as stubborn as they get.

Damon groaned in annoyance. "I'm supposed to care about Elijah?"

"Shouldn't you at least care about Rebekah." Elena spat, sounding like a jealous girl.

"Jealous much?" Cassiopeia smirked out loud despite herself. Damon didn't even turned to her, letting Cassiopeia know he'd knew she was eveasdropping on them. Elena, however, turned towards her in surprise.

"What is she doing here?" she asked. Then she turned to Damon, looking dissapointed, "Your night was more interesting than I thought."

"Hey, now, Elena." Cassiopeia said, stepping out of her shadows, her clothes didn't helped Elena's speculations, but she had other problems in her mind than whatever the doppelgänger could think. "I live here. What are you doing here, apart from getting jealous over Damon and his lovers? Because I don't truly understand."

She had promised Damon she would give Elena an opportunity, and she was going to...eventually, but now she needed Elena out of the house so she could talk to Damon.

Elena stared at her. She looked exasperated and confused. Cassiopeia guessed it had to be the fact that she just saw Rebekah leaving the boarding house after a passionate night with Damon, and now seeing her here was pretty confusing too.

"I am not jealous," Elena said.

"From all the things you could've defended yourself with, you decided to go with the fact that you're not jealous. A clear sing you are." Cassiopeia said, her teasing smile on her face, though by the look on Elena's face she didn't find it amusing at all.

"Enough," Damon rolled his eyes. "Elena, about Rebekah—you were pissed that she attacked you. It's a win-win."

Elena stared at him in disbelief, to then scoff. She moved to leave, but Damon grabbed her roughtly by the arm, stopping her from leaving. He knew her enough to think she'll probably do something to prevent the originals. "Don't do anything to screw this up, Elena."

Cassiopeia's smirk dropped form her face. Damon's face was full of seriousness, he liked the idea of the safeness that could come from having the Originals killed. He wasn't going to lose that opportunity, their safety was more important than whatever Elena could say.

"Why are you doing this?"

Cassiopeia sighed. "Damon, please, listen to her. She has a point—"

"Shut up," Damon said to Cassiopeia, not bothering to turn towards her. "You know nothing."

Anger flared inside Cassiopeia. She hated when Damon used that argument against her, it was the typical stuff a normal parent always tell their children, and she hated it. She wasn't a child anymore, and she knew the same things he knew. He had been the one that told her all about Mystic Fall's current condition, for God's sake, all he knew—she knew.

Stefan stepped in before Cassiopeia could defend herself. He paced behind Damon, looking all cold and stoic. Cassiopeia knew him enough to know he was currently battling with his addiction, or had been, and his attitud was probably a cause of his humanity switch being unstable.

"He's right, you know. Klaus has to die. They all do." Stefan said.

Damon smirked, "See? It's democracy in action."

Elena scoffed at them, looking annoyed and incredulous. She turned and left, not before bumping into Damon roughly and spilling his drink. Rolling his eyes, Damon turned back to Stefan and Cassiopeia, he opened his mouth to say something, but stopped once he saw his daughter properly.

"What the hell happened to you? You look horrible."

"Wow, thank you, dad," Cassiopeia scoffed. "Way to boost a girl's confidence."

"Where you with someone tonight?" Damon asked without missing a beat, narrowing his eyes at his daughter.

Cassiopeia gave him a look, while Stefan stopped what he was doing and looked at her expectantly too. She rolled her eyes, but her father held her gaze, and she pursed her lips before answering.

"That's none of your business."

"So you were," Stefan smirked.

Damon looked annoyed, and Cassiopeia rolled his eyes. "Don't even start, dad. The day I fall in love—that day you have to worry. Last night was just me having fun."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Damon grunted, looking at Stefan.

Stefan shrugged. "She's your daughter, not mine."

That statement was sort of an inside joke between them. Every time Damon was in a situation in which he didn't knew how to react or what to do or say to his daughter he'd turn to Stefan and ask with his eyes for his opinion, and Stefan always answered that.

Looking between them, Cassiopeia swallowed down the uncertainty. They were her family, surey they could understand how important it was for her to keep her promises, surely they could understand what she wanted to do.

"There's something I need to talk to you both," Cassiopeia said.

"Wait, I'm not finished. Last night—" Damon started, but Cassiopeia cut him off.

"Last night I had sex with a guy I barely know, dad. You told me once yourself that you don't need to have feelings towards someone to bed them. Besides, I'm over a hundred years old, it's not like I haven't slept around before. Now, would you stop your jealous father side and listen to me, please? it's somehow important what I want to tell you."

"Cassiopeia—" Damon grunted, his fatherly side still on.

Stefan, however, narrowed his eyes with curiosity, looking at his niece. "What is it, Cass?"

She motioned them to sit, and once the three of them were settled on the couch, Cassiopeia sat in front of them, twisting the ring on her middle ringer—an habit she had. Damon softened his gaze once he saw her doing it, it was something she did when she was nervous.

"Is everything alright, Cassie?"

She sighed deeply. Looking at both vampires in front of her, she wondered how to tell them, or even what to say.

"Last night at the Ball, I..." Cassiopeia cleared her throat softly. "I had a great time, and as you both know, I spent some time with Elijah dancing and afterwards drinking, and we started talking, and...well—"

Damon's soft groan interrupted Cassiopeia, he was looking at her with an exasperated expression on his face. "You had sex with him?"

Of all the things she could do, she blushed furiously. "What? No! Dad, get your head out of the gutter, what I'm trying to tell you both has nothing to do with the man I had sex with, could you please let me finish?"

Calming down a little, Damon nodded, and Cassiopeia took another deep breath. Stefan stared at her, trying to decipher whatever she was trying to say.

"Okay. Um, you guys know how important family is, right?" Cassiopeia tried to find the right words, but all that came out of her mouth were the wrong ones. "Family is something very valuable, and I hope you guys know I would do anything for you both, anything, and—" she took yet another deep breath. "Talking to Elijah, I realised he holds his family in the same way we do. Family is very important to him too."

She paused to look at their reactions. Stefan's face was completely blank, while Damon stared at her completely silent and waiting for her to continue.

"We know that," Stefan said then, remembering when Elijah was supposed to kill Klaus after the sacrifice, but after one mention at the rest of his family he had took Klaus and fled. Stefan and Damon understood that, because it was his family and he was his brother, but they never liked it. They never liked Elijah's decision to keep Klaus alive.

"I was talking to him, and he was smart enough to doubt Esther's intentions."

Both Salvatore brothers tensed, sensing they weren't going to like whatever she was going to say. They knew her enough to know her heart was too big, even when it came down to people she didn't knew, she hated genocide. And that was kind of ironic considering she was a vampire and she had killed innocents before.

"Cassiopeia," Damon spoke, observing her as he kept his calm demeanour. "Sweetheart, the Originals have to die."

"And why, exactly?" Cassiopeia stared at him. "Give me one good reason that doesn't involve Elena. Just one."

"They tried to kill us," Stefan pointed out.

"They?" Cassiopeia rose one eyebrow. "Klaus tried to kill you both, Elijah kept his promise and helped Elena until the very end, the others Originals just woke up, none of you know them. I don't see why they have to die."

"Are you out of your mind?" Damon snapped. "They're a menace, they are better off dead."

"Why? Because your precious Elena could be hurt by them?" Cassiopeia snapped back. "She's not that important, open your eyes. None of them are going to touch her, not when Klaus wants her alive. We're talking about the Original Vampires here! A family of old vampires, they hold so much knowledge, so much history in them...they can't just die. Not like this, not in such a degrading way."

"I know you like that stuff, being a journalist and all of that," Damon rolled his eyes. "But we cannot interfere in this, Cassiopeia. This has nothing to do with us, we can just rejoice on the end of this madness."

"They're always going to be a threat as long as they are alive," Stefan added, looking back at Damon. "They have to die."

Cassiopeia closed her eyes briefly. "I have to tell Elijah."

Before she could move, Damon was in front of her. "You're putting people you don't know before us, your family."

"I'm not putting anyone before you two," Cassiopeia snapped, trying to be calm. "You two are my family, not Elena. I could care less about what happens to her. But just so you both know, the Originals are truly trying to be a family again, they want to be together. They're not going to hurt her when she's so important to Klaus, not when that could damage their relationship."

"And let me guess, Elijah told you that?" Damon smiled sarcastically.

"No, it's called common knowledge," Cassiopeia replied.

"Cassie, believe us when we say it's for the best," Stefan said, his voice soft, something that surprised Cassiopeia, she thought he had his emotions turned off. "We're just trying to have peace, to keep this family safe. And like it or not, Elena's part of this family. She's important to us."

"I'm sorry," Cassiopeia said. "But it looks to me that the ones putting other people before family are you two."

"I don't care what you think," Damon said, something he regretted when he saw the hurt on her eyes.

"Okay, whatever," Cassiopeia said. "Put a human before us, because that always ends so well."

She advanced towards her room, but stopped in the middle of the staircase to look down at both Salvatore brothers. "Just so you both know, I'm not going to interfere, but I'm telling Elijah about Esther's plan. Want to know why?" she didn't wait for them to speak, she continued before they could try to stop her or interrupt her. "Because I promised I would. Because none of you saw Elijah's distressed face, none of you saw how worried he looked for his family, and how much he wanted his speculations about Esther's to be false."

Damon and Stefan froze.

"You promised..." Damon whispered, looking up at her. "Cassie..."

But she blurred to her room before he could say anything else.

Damon turned to Stefan then, his whole newfound happiness about the thought of the Originals dying slowly leaving him. He looked at his brother with a blank stare. "She promised."

Stefan had a hand on the bridge of his nose as he gave an irritated sigh. "Of course she did, she doesn't know where to stop or when to start."

"I can't lose her," Damon said, startling Stefan. "You know how important it is for her to keep her promises."

"Yes, I know," Stefan said irritated. "So?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Damon moved impatiently. "You saw how defensive she got when we were talking. This goes deeper than just promising something to Elijah, this is her asking me for something. She is trying to see how far I'm willing to go for her, this is Cassiopeia trying to know where my heart lies." he paused. "She wants to know where she's standing before trusting me again."

Stefan simply stared at him. "You got all that in less than five minutes?"

"She's my daughter, Stefan, I know her."

Damon looked to the ceiling, hearing Cassiopeia moving around her room.

"You can't seriously be thinking about interfering..." Stefan trailed off.

"I can't lose her again," Damon said simply, taking a long shot of his drink.

Stefan pursed his lips, curiosity getting the best of him. "Why did she left all those years ago in the first place?"

Damon ignored his comment. "If the price of her being here and trusting me again is playing by her rules, so be it."

Stefan pursed his lips. He didn't liked that, he was completely sure the best option was not to interfere in anything and leave the Originals die at their mother's hand. But...seeing Damon looking so concerned about something surprised him. He almost forgot how Damon was when Cassiopeia was around. When she was with him his humanity was more pronounced and he tried to be a good father for her sake.

Stefan sighed again, moving away from the room. He hated the idea of losing the opportunity of having a way for the Originals to die, and he hated more that it had to do with Cassiopeia. She didn't knew all they had to suffer because of those vampires. She knew nothing. She was asking for an enormous thing without really knowing what she was asking for.

"If this backfires and they threaten us again, or if they try to kill us again...she's the one that'll have to deal with this. I'm not going to help if that happens, not when we could've let them die."

Damon nodded, a dry smile on his face. "I know."

...

Cassiopeia walked downstairs after taking a bath, her hair already ironed, leaving her with straight hair. As she wrapped a white coat around herself, she bumped into her father.

She pursed her lips, looking at him. "Nothing you say will stop me, I promised—"

"I know, promises are important to you." Damon interrupted her. She rose her eyebrows at him, but he simply handed her his cellphone. "Call him. I won't stop you."

Cassiopeia blinked at him, too stunned to react. Damon rolled his eyes and waved the cellphone in front of her, making her react. Taking hold of it, she looked back at Damon. "Thank you."

"Don't make me regret this," Damon said before blurring away from the room.

Cassiopeia searched in her father's cellphone until she found Elijah's number. She hesitated for a second before dialling. After two tunes Elijah's smooth voice answered.

"_Damon,_" he acknowledged calmly.

"Not quite right," Cassiopeia said softly, swallowing down her nervousness. What she was going to tell him was important and delicate, she didn't knew how the old vampire would take it.

"_Cassiopeia_," Elijah noted softly, his tone changing. "_What do I owe the pleasure of this call?"_

She moved towards the kitchen nervously, trying to find the right words. She opened her mouth, but stopped once she heard voices in the other line. "Can you speak freely?"

Elijah understood her question perfectly. _"I'm having breakfast with my family. Is this about last night?" _

"Yes." she hesitated. "I'm afraid what I have to tell you is quite important."

There was a small pause.

"_Are you at the Boarding House_?" Elijah asked. At Cassiopeia's hum of confirmation, he nodded to himself, watching his brothers looking at him with curiosity, hearing every word they were saying. His family seemed to trust Esther, but he knew better. Perhaps it would be good for them to hear whatever Cassiopeia was going to tell him about their mother. "_Would it be appropriate for you to meet me at my house so we can discuss this more comfortably?"_

Even thought it was a polite question, Cassiopeia heard in his tone a slight demand. He wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Yes, okay. I'm on my way."


	3. Everything backfires

Cassiopeia hadn't even gotten completely out of her car when Elijah appeared in front of her. She gasped softly, her heart jumping. It was an understatement to say she was nervous, she knew the Originals were dangerous and the fact that she was going to tell him something equally dangerous was making her nervous.

"Elijah," she breathed out. "Hey."

He noticed she was nervous and maybe a little bit scared, and he liked that she had the decency to look like it. At least she wasn't as arrogant as Damon.

"Good morning, Ms. Salvatore," Elijah nodded at her. "It's good to see you, though I wish it didn't had to be under this circumstances. Shall we?"

He guided her towards the porch of the house, but Cassiopeia froze once she was close enough to heard the movement inside. She gripped Elijah's elbow, making him look down at her. She looked nervously towards the house, and shook her head.

"Do they know?" she whispered.

"They've acknowledged my doubts about our mother, but my sister is completely blinded by her wish to keep us together as a family. I only hope that once you tell us what you know they'll believe me." he paused softly. "Is it bad?"

Cassiopeia swallowed, and the pity on her eyes was enough answer to Elijah. "My family told me that when they stole the coffins they were told that whatever was in that coffin was going to help them kill Klaus, but when they found out it was your mother..." Cassiopeia pursed her lips, looking at Elijah with compassion that surprised him. "I heard Elena talking to both Damon and Stefan, the conversation Esther had with her was horrifying. Elijah, Esther's not planning to kill Klaus only—"

"She wants to kill us all, doesn't she? She wants to undo the evil she created." Elijah said, his tone flat but deep down Cassiopeia heard the hurt on his tone.

There was a blur, and the rest of the Originals appeared all around them. Cassiopeia's heart jumped, but they all held the same unreadable expression. She already knew both Rebekah and Kol, but she imagined the blonde one was Klaus. There was no sign of Finn there.

"What did mother do?" Klaus asked, his expression was unreadable, but his tone of voice was grounding on anger.

"She linked you all together, what happens to one happens to the rest," Cassiopeia said gently. "It's a spell, I think she's drawing from different bloodlines of witches. It's the only thing reasonable, this spell is too powerful for her to be doing it alone. And to kill Klaus, since he's a hybrid and the dagger doesn't work on him she'll wait until the moon is at its highest, and then she'll kill one of you, which will end as the death of the rest."

There was a pause. She waited patiently for her words to sink in. She thought it would hurt them to know it, to know your own mother was going to kill you was a big shock. But then, their faces continued being unreadable, only a small glimpse of confusion or hurt and anger on their eyes.

"And how do we know you're telling the truth?" Kol rose his eyebrows.

Rebekah nodded then, pointing at her. "She was with the Salvatore's this morning! Why would we believe her? She's clearly one of them."

"Look, Rebekah, I'm not as dumb as to try something against any of you. You can opt to believe me or not, I already did my part in telling you what I know."

She moved to go, but one hand grabbed her elbow, stopping her. A dreading sensation arose on her as she stared into the blue eyes of Klaus Mikaelson. "Not so fast, love. You dragged yourself here when you told us, now you're gonna help."

She looked back at Elijah with wide eyes, as if to ask for his help, but Elijah simply looked away from her. Niklaus was right, they needed her help.

"What else do you know?" Kol crossed his arms, moving to stand alongside Cassiopeia.

"That's all I know," Cassiopeia shook her head, shaking her arms until Klaus dropped his grip on her.

"You spoke about the spell as if you knew about it." Kol pointed out, his eyes never leaving hers.

"That's because I do. Everyone with an old Grimoire knows about it, it's one of the most dangerous and important ones. Esther needs help on that, which makes me believe she's channeling bloodlines of witches, dead and alive," Cassiopeia started.

"She must be using Ayana's bloodline," Elijah said, lost in thoughts as he stared back at his brothers, Ayana had been a dear friend of Esther back when they were still humans, she had been the one to give Rebekah the necklace and she'd be one to help them with their spells when Esther was too busy. "The Bennett bloodline."

Cassiopeia thought about what Damon and Stefan had said about the Bennett witches. Bonnie and Abby, Bonnie was a friend of the group while Abby was the mother.

"Bonnie and Abby Bennett." The Originals stared at each other, they knew what they had to do. The only way to stop Esther from channelling them was if the bloodline stopped, the only way to stop it was if one of them was no longer a witch.

"Can I please go?" Cassiopeia whispered. "I don't want to cause more disturbance. I just wanted to tell you all so you'll be safe."

"Why?" Klaus asked, looking back at the younger vampire there. Real confusion on his voice, he couldn't understand why that woman was helping them. He heard her conversation with Elijah in the ball, she was Damon's daughter. It made no sense for her to be helping them. "Why help us when you could've perfectly let us die. That's what your father wanted, no?"

"My father doesn't share my...big heart," Cassiopeia smiled tiredly. "I found myself in a position which I was tempted to ignore I ever heard Elena's words, that was going to make my family safe, to have you all die. But then, what type of person would I be if I broke a promise and let you all die?"

Elijah looked interested at her comment. Seemed like she was a woman of her word, just like he was a man of his word.

"We have just as much right as the rest to live," Rebekah spoke angrily, ignoring the promise part.

Cassiopeia nodded. "I know, I believe so too."

"But I know why my mother is doing this," Elijah said. "It makes sense, she wants to redeem the evil she created, the monsters we've become..." he stopped, as if the thought of his bad actions weighed him down, "Finn always hated what we are, he must be the one she's sacrificing tonight to kill us all."

Cassiopeia felt even more sad towards the Originals. It was bad enough to know your mother wanted to kill you, but now to know a brother was sacrificing himself to kill all of them was...overwhelming. But, they seemed to take it in with such an ease that made Cassiopeia wonder how dysfunctional that family was.

"I'm truly very sorry," Cassiopeia said softly.

"Don't be, love, you can stop being sorry as you help us," Kol said.

Cassiopeia looked at him. It was true she felt sorry for them, but the only thing she wanted to do was to prevent them, she never wanted to be dragged on their problem. But their eyes and voices held a silent threat. She had to help, or else...

"I'm a little embarrassed to admit, but when it comes to killing thousand year old resurrected witches, I'm a little rusty." Cassiopeia said, a mirthless smile on her lips.

Elijah nodded curtly. "Yes, unfortunately, even when killed my mother doesn't seem to want to stay dead. Not with the spirits of nature at her side."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"The witches that released my mother, she's drawing her power from their bloodline just like you said, that line needs to be broken."

Cassiopeia nodded, knowing that fully well. "One of them has to stop being a witch. That's it? You want me to kill one of them?" she couldn't hide the disagreement on her voice.

"Well if she doesn't want to, I can perfectly kill one of them myself," Kol said, hearing the reluctance on Cassiopeia's voice. "I'm itching to kill something."

"No, Kol," Klaus sounded annoyed. "We can't get separated, we need you to confront our mother and Finn."

Elijah looked away from his brothers and acknowledged the Salvatore girl. "I would do it myself, but I have absolutely no idea where they are. Besides, seeing me, they'd immediately know my intent. They won't expect to be harm by the likes of you, not after knowing you are a Salvatore. In any case, you have until six minutes after nine to find them."

"I'm not surprised to know they know I'm a Salvatore. But that's very specific of you." Cassiopeia noted, thinking about the hours she had left to do her task.

"By 9:07, the moon will be full, my mother will have the power she needs to kill me and my family. If you do not stop her before then, we will be doomed." there was a pause. "And I'll have Rebekah kill you and your family."

Cassiopeia widened her eyes in surprise, looking at the blonde girl who stared back at her, just as perplexed as her. Cassiopeia looked back at Elijah then, he seemed so calm and always fixed and stern that she nearly forgot he was also a vampire and an original one. A very dangerous one.

"So we all have our timeline? I suggest you get started."

Cassiopeia stared at him for a second before pursing her lips and blurring to her car. A second blur appeared besides her, and she saw Rebekah following her to the car. "Guess I'll have to kill you if things get out of control. Don't take it as a personal thing, love—"

"I know," Cassiopeia snapped, getting tired of their pet names. "Just shut up and come."

She hated what was happening with every cell of her body. She hated the idea of transforming an innocent into a vampire, but it was partly her fault for having told them about Esther's plan.

As she drove away, she bit down at her lips hard.

It wasn't so bad that she told them, If she hadn't told them about Esther's plan, the most probable thing was that Elijah would've gone to Stefan and Damon for the favour, and of course neither of them would've never agreed to help them unless something was at a stake—and that something was Elena.

So, it hadn't been so bad that she was now forced to kill someone. Not if that meant her father, uncle and the stupid doppelgänger wouldn't be messed in that stuff. Not if that meant they would be safe.

...

She spent the whole day searching on town with Rebekah, but as the hour approached she realised she had to be quicker. She called her father, and waited. If someone knew where those witches were, it was probably Damon.

"Hey, Cassie." Damon answered. "Where are you?"

"Do you have the slightest idea for where would the Bennett witches be?" Cassiopeia asked quickly, not bothering to answer his question.

"Why?" Damon's voice sounded suspicious.

"There's something I need to do," Cassiopeia answered.

"I thought you were only going to tell them, that you weren't going to get involved in that problem," Damon's voice sounded half angry.

"I don't have another option, dad," Cassiopeia admitted, sighing irritably. "Now, where are they?"

"What do you mean you don't have another option?"

"That means that if she doesn't help I get to kill all of you," Rebekah said, a smirk on her voice as they heard a growl on the other line.

"Cassie—"

"I know, dumb of me for doing this, whatever," Cassiopeia sighed, gripping the wheel a little tighter.

There was a long sigh on the other line. "Do you need help?"

"No, I don't want any of you involved in this. Stefan is slowly recovering from his last ripper stage and doing this would shatter his progress. And as for you if you had to do this you would lose any chance you have at having Elena's love."

Damon stayed silent for a second. "What do you have to do?"

Cassiopeia hesitated for a second. "I have to transform one of the Bennett witches." she waited until she heard his long groan and as he was going to say something she continued, "If I don't Rebekah will kill us all, including—"

"Elena," Damon breathed, and it hurt Cassiopeia to hear the worry on his voice.

"So I just...I'll do this, and we'll be okay. Do you know where the witches are? Is there some kind of place full of magic powerful enough to do a big spell?"

There was a small pause on the other end of the line. "There's the old witches house, it's where everything big happens."

"Give me directions to it," Cassiopeia ordered.

After Damon told her how to get there, Cassiopeia accelerated. Her mind was racing, if Bonnie and Abby weren't there then she only had a couple of minutes to find them before Rebekah could kill her.

She thought of how to approach, how to do it...but stopped once the guilt started to appear on her stomach.

She had to do it.

She had no other option, she had to swallow her guilt and her emotions, all if she wanted to come out of that alive and without her family getting hurt.

"Were you a witch?" Rebekah asked suddenly.

Cassiopeia looked at her with a careful expression. She didn't knew what to make of the blonde vampire. She seemed nice enough, a little lonely and snarky, but something in her made Cassiopeia like her instantly, and that was something that didn't happened so often.

"What makes you think that?"

Rebekah gave her a knowing look. "The way you speak about spells, and, call it a hunch, but you have that air."

Cassiopeia looked at her for some seconds before nodding curtly. "Yes, I was. My mother was one, and I inherited the powers, but they died once I was transformed. You were one too, right?"

Rebekah looked lost in thoughts, but she nodded after a few seconds. "We all were."

Cassiopeia gave her a soft look, she knew how it felt to lose her powers after a whole life with them, so she probably understood what Rebekah was thinking. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Yes, actually. Are you really Damon's daughter?"

Cassiopeia smiled softly, but it didn't reached her eyes. "Yes, I am."

There was a small pause. And then, they reached the old abandoned witch house. Cassiopeia opened her mouth to say something, but stopped once she saw Finn Mikaelson walking around close to the house. Rebekah narrowed her eyes and turned towards Cassiopeia.

"Leave him to me."

And with that Rebekah was gone. Cassiopeia then swallowed and blurred herself inside the house, where she saw both Bonnie and Abby. Then she got paralysed once she saw Damon and Stefan there too. They saw her, but made no sign as to stop her. She stayed in the shadows until Abby left the room to search for something. Cassiopeia then followed her.

"Abby Bennett?"

Abby turned, but before anything else could happen, Cassiopeia felt her fangs emerging, and she bit into her wrist. One arm grabbing Abby and forcing her to stay pinned to her chest. The blood dripped, and she forced Abby to drink from her wrist as she muffled her cries of help.

"I'm truly very sorry," Cassiopeia whispered, and snapped her neck.

She heard Bonnie screaming, but both Damon and Stefan were stopping her. Cassiopeia went back to the room where they were, and upon seeing Bonnie's broken face and tears of desperation, she felt guilty. "I'm sorry, I—"

Bonnie freed herself from Damon's grip and ran out of her room, searching for Abby, not after giving Cassiopeia a cold stare that sent chills all over her spine. The warning was clear on Bonnie's eyes. Next time they'll meet, Cassie would feel Bonnie's wrath.

Cassiopeia looked at Damon and Stefan then. Her eyes were dark her breath was a little ragged. Damon could literally feel the regret rolling out of her in waves. He instantly felt angry at her for agreeing to do something that would cause her so much hurt and regret, but leave it to Cassiopeia to get mingled in things that had nothing to do with her.

"C'mon, let's get out of here before anything else happens," Stefan grabbed her arm, and the three of them blurred out of there.

...

The Boarding House held as many tension as possible that night, it was clear for Cassiopeia that both her father and her uncle were angry at her, or at least disappointed. She didn't knew which was worse.

After some minutes, Stefan left the boarding house when Elena called him, screaming about Elijah confronting her about her lies and about Abby being in transition and Bonnie not wanting to talk to her...she demanded answers, so her former boyfriend quickly obliged.

That left both dark haired vampires alone.

"Dad," Cassiopeia said, breaking the silence. "I'm—I'm sorry."

Damon turned around and stared at her with such a glare that Cassiopeia actually winced.

"Sorry? You're sorry? That's all you gotta say?" he growled. "You could've died, Cassie! Do you understand that, you could've died."

Cassiopeia was startled for a second. That's what got him so angry? Elijah's threat to kill her if she didn't helped them? She thought he was angry at her for having transformed Abby, that was something that could probably put them (specially him) on a very bad relationship with Elena.

But...what made him angry was the thought of Cassie being in danger...she was more than surprised after realising that.

At Cassiopeia's shocked face, Damon softened his expression. He sat at her side on the couch and sighed, taking the glass of bourbon from her hand and taking a long gulp of the liquid. He then put the glass over on the table and faced his daughter again.

"I'm not angry at you, sweetheart. I'm just very worried, Cassie you got dragged on an Original problem, that doesn't happen everyday..."

"For you it does," Cassiopeia reminded him.

"Yes, but that's not something I wanted for you. When I called you here I thought..." he trailed off.

"You thought I would stay out of every dangerous situation?" Cassiopeia finished for him, a soft smile on her lips as she took her father's hand on hers and squeezed it gently. Damon rested his back against the soft headboard of the couch, and stared into his daughter's eyes. "Well, dad, I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen."

"It would be ridiculous to assume you've had a quiet life wherever you where?" Damon tried for a smile, but it looked pretty fake to Cassiopeia.

Cassiopeia couldn't help but giggle. "New York; I stayed in New York for the past five years. I had a good life, actually, a very nice boring life."

Damon smirked despite himself. "A very nice boring life?"

"I'm a journalist, what did you expected?" Cassiopeia snickered. "But yeah, I like boring, boring's safe." Damon seemed to like her answer, but she continued, her voice getting gentler as she eyed her father. "But that doesn't mean I don't like a little danger sometimes. And, dad, you called me here—Mystic Falls of all the places, and even when it's our home you have to admit its full of danger."

"I just wanted to see you," Damon whispered, his gentle tone surprising Cassie a little, it had been a while since he'd used that soft tone; the last time being before he shut up his emotions after their biggest fight.

"Yeah, I've missed you too." Cassiopeia whispered back, intertwining her fingers with Damon'.

"I really missed you, sweetheart. You have no idea how much..." Damon squeezes her hand. "All these years I've been more than worried. I didn't knew if you we still alive, and when you answered your phone...that relief was the best feeling I've had in my whole life."

Cassiopeia smiled at him. His words struck her, and she understood it then. He had his emotions on, his humanity was still intact. She loved that, she loved her father very much, and she loved him even more when he was himself, when he wasn't obnoxious or an asshole and when he showed that humanity he had.

"I'm sorry, I should've called. But I was so angry..."

"It's okay, you're here now," Damon smiled at her.

She smiled back.

A few seconds later she shook her head. "Wow, this was very dramatic. I don't like dramatic."

Damon looked at her with an amused smirk hanging on his lips. "You're very dramatic, Cassie."

"I'm not denying I'm kind of dramatic, I'm saying I hate drama." she shrugged, but her cheeks had taken a little pink dot. "Whatever. Is bonding time over yet?"

"Bonding time is over." Damon nodded. "Now we have a more serious thing to discuss. Cassie, when Bonnie sees you again..."

"She'll probably kill me, I know," she nodded. Then a smirk appeared on her face. "Well, she can try."

Damon smirked back.

"Is Elena going to blame you for what happened?" Cassiopeia asked softly. "From what I've heard you always get the blame for everything."

"Yes, she'll probably blame me for this. But you know what? I don't give a fuck," Damon said, his characteristic smirk on place. "You know why? Because you did what you had to, you protected yourself and protected us. And I'm proud of you for that."

Cassiopeia looked flustered for a second. It had been a long time since her father had praised her, and it melted her heart to hear the sincerity on his voice. Maybe things would be different this time..."Thank you."

"Now, are we done talking now? I want you to meet someone, we can discuss Elena tomorrow."

Damon grabbed his jacket and threw Cassiopeia hers. She eyed him hesitantly as she put hers around her summer dress.

"I'm tired, dad. I don't think it'll be good for me to go out after what I did..."

"Not even to drink?" Damon smirked, knowing that would spike her daughters attention.

It was Cassiopeia's turn to raise her eyebrows. "My own father is taking me to a bar? Wow, things have definitely changed."

"Don't get used to it." Damon warned. "I want you to meet my best friend. And yes, don't look so surprised, I have a friend. His name's Alaric, I told you about him."

"The vampire hunter," Cassiopeia nodded interested. "Wonderful. C'mon, I'm dying to meet the poor man who has the bad luck to be your best friend."

Damon rolled his eyes.

Both Salvatore's left the Boarding House, not noticing how after a few seconds later someone entered the house and left a note on Cassiopeia's bed.


	4. Remembering the lost ones

For Cassiopeia it was pretty obvious why Damon liked Alaric enough to consider him his best friend. The man was smart, nice and sarcastic. She learned quickly how at first Alaric wanted to kill Damon—like everyone that ever met him—but then as they started to hang out together and do stuff together they became friends.

It was nice, Cassiopeia thought as she watched her father laughing along with Alaric as they drowned their drinks. It was really nice to know Damon finally had a friend. He really deserved one, after Lexi's death and Katherine turning out to be an hypocritical bitch, Damon had been very alone.

Well, that's what Cassiopeia thought because she couldn't count what Damon and Elena had as a friendship. Not when Damon was so madly in love with her, and certainly not when she seemed to feel a small attraction towards him.

As both Damon and Alaric drank and chatted, Cassiopeia distracted herself with Alaric's girlfriend, a cute woman named Meredith Fell, the new Doctor in town. She was really nice, and Cassiopeia enjoyed their conversation.

"Damon?" Alaric asked as he watched Meredith talking animatedly with the woman Damon had brought along with him. He didn't knew what to think of her, more after knowing she helped the Originals. "Who's that?"

Damon rose his eyebrows, a teasing smirk appearing on his lips. "Already drunk, Ric? That's kind of pathetic, don't you think? What will your hot doctor think of you?"

Alaric rolled his eyes. "Don't be a dick. You know what I mean."

"Actually, I don't." Damon lied as he drowned his glass in an instant. He hadn't exactly told his friend who Cassiopeia was exactly, but he was getting ready to do it. He just wanted to skip the questions that he knew would come after admitting she was his daughter. "I already told you, that's Cassie."

"And who exactly is Cassie, Damon?" Alaric sighed, worry lines forming on his forehead.

He knew of Damon and how he treated his girlfriends, and the thought of that young woman being compelled and put under a constant risk worried him. There had been way too many deaths lately, all he wanted was to avoid another tragic death.

That, and the thought of her being involved with the Originals worried him. The Originals meant trouble, and anyone that was on their side was as troublesome as them.

"That's my daughter." Damon said slowly. "Cassie is my daughter."

He watched, amused, as Alaric seemed to process his words. His eyes widened and he turned to Damon, one hand pointing at Cassiopeia, confusing written all over his face. "You have a daughter?"

"Yep," Damon smiled widely, trying to make the situation lighter. "She's beautiful, isn't she? Looks just like me."

Alaric rose his hands in front of him as if to stop Damon from saying anything else. He stared at Cassiopeia to then stare at Damon again, looking at him as if he had grown another head.

"You have a daughter?"

Damon tried hide his amusement, but a small smirk rounded his face, giving him away. He'd never seen Alaric so surprised, not even when his dead vampire wife appeared and talked to him. Damon nodded once again, and lowered his tone so Cassiopeia wouldn't hear them over the sound of the music and the chatter that was around the room.

"She's my biological daughter. I had her when I was still human, if that answer your unspoken question," Damon said calmly.

Alaric nodded slowly. That was easier to believe than the thought of Damon adopting a child, but he was still curious. Over the year they had as friends they spoke of lots of things, and he was more than confused as to why hadn't Damon trusted him enough to tell him he had a daughter.

As if reading his mind, Damon patted his arm. "Nothing personal, Ric. Few people know about her, it's not easy to explain I have a daughter. The questions annoy me. But, considering you're my friend, I guess I can tolerate a couple of questions, so shoot."

Alaric smiled at the friend part, knowing Damon sometimes hated admitting he had a friend, that he had feelings enough to care about someone enough to call them a friend. The retired vampire hunter looked at Cassiopeia before looking back at Damon.

"What about her mother?"

"Met her back in 1853. She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful mind," he couldnt help but smile softly thinking about the beautiful woman that stole his heart. "We fell in love almost instantly. Her brothers were in the army with me, and were my friends, so our whole relationship was pretty much accepted." he paused brieftly, growing serious as he continued. "We got married months later, and after two years she got pregnant. Little Cassie was born, but it was too much for Melissa." he paused, drank his bourbon in one long swing, and ended sourly. "She died five minutes after giving birth to Cassie."

Alaric swallowed. He was glad that Damon trusted him enough to reveal his past to him, but he didn't knew what to say to him. He knew personally how it felt to lose a loved one, but never knew what to say. So he simply looked at him, putting into his eyes how sorry he was, and gripped his arm gently, patting it in a comforting way.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I truly am."  
"Thank you." Damon nodded truthfully. "Something good came out of it, my little Cassie turned out to be the best thing that has happened to me." he paused. "But don't even tell her I said that, she won't let it go."

"Too late," Cassiopeia smirked, taking a seat at his side while Meredith sat with Alaric. Damon groaned, rolling his eyes dramatically. "So, the best thing that has happened to you, huh?"

"Shut it, little demon" he rolled his eyes, but ended ruffling her hair, to which she sighed annoyedly as she tried to fix it.

Alaric smiled softly at them, nothing how soft and real Damon's smile looked.

Meredith simply seemed curious as she eyed them. Damon didn't looked like the kind of guy to do those things for a girl, but of course, sometimes nothing is at its seems. She herself knew pretty well that one should never judge someone before actually getting to know them.

"You two are very alike," Alaric noted out loud. "Same hair, eyes, cheekbones..."

Cassiopeia hid a smile as Damon looked proud of that statement.

"She's beautiful, of course she looks like me." Damon smirked.

"Oh, please." Cassiopeia scoffed. "I don't look like you, I'm far more beautiful."

"Of course you are, Cassie, of course you are." Damon smiled sarcastically.

The night passed without any more controversy. Meredith and Alaric left some time before both vampires, Meredith had work the next day, and had to go. Alaric went with her, nodding politely at Cassiopeia and telling Damon that he'll call him the next day.

"So, Cassie, tell me about yourself," Damon said as he finished his glass. "What did you do all these years in New York?"

"Everything," Cassiopeia shrugged. "I carried on with my career, met some friend and shared an apartment with them...I don't know, the usual I guess."

"Sounds boring," Damon rose his eyebrows. He thought his daughter had been partying all those years, killing around and getting drunk...but of course, she had changed too. She wasn't the same unstable girl he used to know so well. She looked more mature, more free, more...relaxed.

Cassiopeia sighed. "I told you, I like boring. Boring is safe, boring is normal."

"But we're not normal," Damon pointed out.

"No," Cassiopeia said softly. "We're not."

Her eyes darkened, as if remembering something, but the look disappeared a couple of seconds later. Damon narrowed his eyes, wondering what happened to his daughter to make her look like that.

She drowned the rest of her glass in one swing, stood and left money on the counter. "I want to go home, I'm tired, plus tomorrow I'm going to go see if I can find a job."

"What for?" Damon rose his eyebrows as he paid too and followed his daughter. "We don't need money."

"No, but it's a distraction. I can't be 24/7 on the house or dealing with all the emotional teenage dramas that I sense happen a lot to you. It'll drive me crazy."

"Fair enough," Damon nodded.

There was a small pause between them as they reached Damon's car. The trip back to the boarding house was quick and in silence for most of the time. There was still a slight tension between them, like if they still had much more to discuss. After all, it had been nearly 20 years since they last were together. They definitely had some adjustments to do.

"Tell me about Elena," Cassiopeia pursed her lips as she forced herself to say those words. There was a slight sneer on her voice at the thought of the doppelgänger.

Damon, however, choose to ignore her sneer. He tightened his grip on the wheel, and looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "What do you want to know about her?"

"Is she as bitchy as Katherine?" Cassiopeia smiled sarcastically. "If she is then I'm sure we will get along so good."

Damon rolled his eyes, getting annoyed at her sarcasm.

"Is this how it feels when I sass everybody?" he wondered out loud.

"It does," chuckled Cassiopeia. "But that's beyond the topic. Tell me about your little wench."

"Don't okay, just don't." Damon scowled. "Elena is not Katherine, okay? Elena is different, Elena is generous, selfless, brave. She would never do anything to hurt anyone. She is special."

All traces of mock dropped from Cassiopeia's face as she heard her father talking. It was so obvious, it was so obvious how he felt about that Gilbert girl. God, she was so blind. Damon was so in love with her. It was heartbreaking, it was horrible...Cassiopeia felt a lump on her throat.

"You're in love with her."

Damon stayed silent.

That was enough answer to Cassiopeia. She closed her eyes briefly, mentally screaming. She knew he had feelings for her, everyone said so, but to have the confirmation of it out loud...that was overwhelming. It really was.

"I can't believe it," she scoffed before she could stop herself.

It was history repeating itself, both Salvatore brothers were once again in love with the same girl. And if there was something she knew from all her years as a journalist, it was that history always repeated itself, and that also meant the ugly endings.

And the Salvatore brothers had had enough of ugly endings with girls. First their love for Katherine got them killed. And now...Elena. She only hoped that wouldn't happen with Elena, but it was so clear that it was going to happen.

"What?" Damon snapped.

Cassiopeia wanted to keep quiet, to let it be, but her father's tone angered her.

"Nothing," she faked a smile. "I don't know why I'm surprised. You and Uncle Stefan had always had a horrible taste in women."

Damon slammed the brakes as he parked outside the boarding house. He turned to Cassiopeia, and unsurprisingly he looked angry with her.

"What? You asked me, I answered."

"You don't know Elena, Cassiopeia. You can't judge her, you know nothing of her."

"I don't know her personally. But what I know of her I hate. I know she's in love with Stefan, and yet still stands by your side and admits to having "feelings" for you. What kind of girls does that? Huh? What kind of person enjoys having two brothers chasing her? Huh? I'm sorry, father, but that sounds awfully the same to what Katherine did."

Cassiopeia saw the determination on Damon's eyes to fight, to tell her Elena wasn't like that, but the words died on his throat, and the only thing he did was groan while clasping a hand over his eyes.

"I don't want to fight with you. I'm tired of arguing."

Her anger started to melt. "I know," Cassiopeia sighed, waving a hand trough her hair. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't judge, but you're my father...I don't want you to hurt over someone that's not worth it."

Damon simply exhaled sharply through his nose. For him, Elena was worth it. But he but back his retort, not wanting to continue on his never ending fight with Cassiopeia.

"I understand your concern, but it's not your place to judge that. I am your father, after all, you shouldn't have to care about it."

"But I do, I do because you're my father and I love you." Cassiopeia paused. "I only want the best for you."

Damon still looked grumpy, but in the end he exhaled again. He bent forwards and kissed softly Cassiopeia's forehead, to her confusion.

"I know." there was so much he wanted to say...but in the end he simply sighed. "I know. Now move, its been a long night."

They both excited the car, and Cassiopeia blew air out of her cheeks. To say that it had been a long night was an understatement. From the very beginning it had been tedious; from trying to help she was threatened and forced to help in the action, she transformed someone, nearly fought with her father again...

They entered the boarding house.

Cassiopeia heard movement on the rooms upstairs, so she guessed Stefan had came back from his trip to Elena's house to explain everything that happened. Damon left his keys on one of the small tables around, and followed his daughter upstairs.

Damon complained about how tired he was, and Cassiopeia sniggered, even thought she was tired too. "That's unsurprising," she started. "Old people get tired very easily."  
"Ha ha ha," Damon gave her a wide fake smile, something that amused Cassiopeia even more.

The reached her room first.

"Sleep tight, old man." Cassiopeia called as she entered his room. "I heard sleeping helps old people."

She studied him, as if examining his invisible wrinkles. Damon rolled his eyes at her, waving a finger at her in a mock scolding manner. "Respect your elders, young girl. Or I'll have you grounded."

"Yeah, ground the 135 years old lady." Cassiopeia snorted loudly.

"You may be that age, but you're my daughter. I can ground you all I want," Damon smirked, as if he was proud of that.

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, waving her hand around in a 'whatever' motion. She entered her room, and looked back at her father. She mock saluted him, starting to close the door.

Damon chuckled before blowing her a kiss in a girly way, making her giggle. "Goodnight, sugar."  
"Goodnight, dad."

* * *

Cassiopeia choose to take a bath so she could relax and forget everything that happened that day. The hot water helped calm her muscles, and she sighed, closing her eyes briefly.

She exhaled softly, thinking about the poor woman that she turned. She hated it. Vampirism was something she would never wish upon anyone. Not when you had so much to lose. Yes, immortality was cool, but only if you knew what to do in that time.

If you were alone in a world and you were immortal, that was a nightmare. A real nightmare. That and how the ghosts of your past always haunted you. At least they haunted her. It haunted her the thought of the family she used to have before being transformed.

It haunted her the memory of the beautiful family she used to have, of the loving husband she had and the beautiful little girl they both had. It had been the perfect family...

But of course, perfection doesn't last.

Her baby died; her husband died...and then she died too. Of course, Damon had been at her side when she got sick, and feeding her his blood he saved her, but the price was too big. The price of immortality was something she never wanted.

It haunted her forever how her family died, but she survived.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to ignore the dull pain of her dead heart. She couldn't continue being like that, she couldn't continue grieving someone for so long...

She pushed herself out of the bath, wrapping a towel around her body as she stepped out of the bathroom, and moved to dress herself. She stopped, however, when a different smell on the room sparked her attention.

She sniffled, nose up. The new smell—someone had been on her room. A vampire.

She froze. After a few quick glances she checked no one else was on the room with her. But the smell continued. Only then she noticed a small note on the edge of her pillow.

She approached quickly, full of curiosity.  
She took the folded fancy note, and read.

_"Cassiopeia, today I did things I abhor to protect the one thing I value most: My family. I am truly sorry I had to go as far as to threaten you and your family. Your compassion, Cassiopeia, is a gift. You could have simply let this happen and let us die, but you decided to stand up and help us...Carry that compassion with you. As I will carry my regret. Always and forever. Elijah."_

Cassiopeia was surprised.

A warmness crept up on her, and she bit her lower lip, a small smile appearing on her face. She tried to shake it off, it was after all only an apology—but it was more the fact that he took his time to actually write her to apologise. He was truly sorry, and that warmed Cassiopeia. It had been so long since someone had actually written her a "letter" and properly apologised...

And his words. She used to believe her "compassion" was going to be the end of her someday. Damon himself had told her so many times, but Elijah seemed to find that a quality instead of a flaw. And she liked that, she really liked that.

She read the note again.

She scoffed after a second, feeling her cheeks burn. She was acting as if she was a teenager with a stupid crush. She was simply...grateful that he had taken a second of his life to thank her and apologise.

Yes, gratefulness. That was it.

She pursed her lips, folding the note again. She dressed quickly in simple sleeping clothes, and moved to get her purse as she tugged herself under her covers. She started going through her purse, finally finding what she was searching for—her diary.

She sighed softly, one hand on the cover.

That diary had been a gift from her best friend, Kieran. They had been friends for ten years. He was the roommate she told her father about, her dear friend that stick with her through everything. He had been kind of angry when she told him she was going back to Mystic Falls and back to her father, but in the end he understood, and they both parted ways.

It had only been two days since she'd last seen him, but she missed him already. More than friends she considered him family. He was there for her when she had no one...

She sighed, getting tired of how much she was remembering past things lately. It started when she heard her father talking about her mother, the woman she never got the chance to met; then she thought about her family back when she was human, of her husband and her lovely daughter; and now she was thinking about all the good times she spent with Kieran.

She opened the diary, found a clean page, and started to write. When she finished, she carefully put Elijah's note on her diary, making sure that it was safely tugged in and wouldn't fall off.

She sighed before hiding her diary on one of her drawers. She went back to bed, and fell asleep almost instantly.

...

The next day, she woke by the smell of food downstairs. She groggily went to the bathroom, and when she was more presentable than before she went downstairs. She was surprised to find both Damon and Stefan on the kitchen, having breakfast and sharing time without fighting.

They greeted her when they saw her, and she took the plate of pancakes and toast her father offered her. She smiled softly before taking a bite of her food.

"Oh, God." Cassiopeia moaned. "I missed your food so much."

Damon smiled brightly, and Stefan chuckled.

"Just my food?" Damon rose his eyebrows after a few seconds.

"Just the food," Cassiopeia smirked. "Though if you brought me a blood bag now my answer would change."

Rolling his eyes Damon blurred out of the room. A second later he re-entered, two glasses of blood on his hands. He handed one to Cassiopeia, and moved one to his own mouth.

"I'm sorry," he said to Stefan. "You want some?"

Stefan shoot him a look, and looked away, something that both Cassiopeia and Damon noticed. Father and daughter shared a look before Cassiopeia finished eating quicker than possible and drowned her glass in one long gulp.

"I have to go get ready," she explained at their curious looks. "I'm meeting with the editor of the local newspaper; if things go smooth I'll have a job."

"A job?" Stefan raised his eyebrows, looking at Damon before looking back at Cassiopeia. "What for?"

"Well, dear Uncle of mine, we all got hobbies. You enjoy going to school even thought you've gone like a hundred times, I enjoy writing."

"No, don't get him wrong," Damon said. "He doesn't enjoy school, he simply goes to continue his facade as teenager and human. Apart from the fact that Elena is there so..."

Cassiopeia couldn't help but feel glad that she died at 19; she didn't had to worry about having to go to school or anything like that because of her physical appearance. Damon too was smirking at Stefan, he died being 25. He was the oldest looking of them.

"What's our cover again?" Cassiopeia asked, not knowing if they changed the cover after so many years.

"What cover?"

"You know, you two are brothers but I can exactly go around saying I'm your daughter. What should I say? Sister again? Or new cover?"

"Sister cover," both Stefan and Damon said. "It's easier."

Cassiopeia shrugged, nodding. "Good for me. See you guys later."

...

Soon after that, Damon received a call from Liz Forbes. She arrested Alaric because he supposedly attacked Meredith. He quickly made his way to the station where he was. He discovered there that they had him restrained and was looked as a subject for all those mysterious deaths there had been.

Damon frowned, thinking about how it was impossible that it was Alaric the one doing all that. They way the deaths were were probably caused by vampires. Since neither him nor Stefan or Caroline did it, Damon suspected the Originals—but...none of them had a reason to kill those people.

So, no. It wasn't the Originals, but he was still keeping an eye on them.

He continued thinking; he needed to find out the truth to help Alaric out of jail and to move the council's attention away from them.

After leaving the station, he made his way back home to search on his brother' diaries. He was sure he'd find something there; it was triggering his mind. He knew he knew about a case just like that, but he couldn't remember exactly what had happened. He knew small details, but he needed compete details, details he could only probably find on a diary.

He knew that in Stefan's untestable mind it wouldn't been easy to convince him to help, but if he wasn't going to help, he could always ask Cassiopeia for help. She kept diaries too, and she had been there that day back when a similar case of murders was happening...

...

Cassiopeia wasn't surprised when she got the job instantly. She didn't even needed to use her compulsion on them. They were missing a columnist on the newspaper, and after reading her résumé and some of her works, they hired her.

She was to start working on the office the next day; but the thing that most impressed her was the new topic they were discussing; a serious of murders that were happening there on Mystic Falls. The way the murders were happening was bizarre, cold, different...

But yet, she remembered the last time there had been a mass murderer on Mystic Falls. It had been on 1912, she remembered because it had been one of the multiple times that her father and Stefan had gotten into an argument; but that time had been different not only for that, but because after that day, Stefan walked away in a murderous rampage, going back to his ripper side, and Damon had walked away as a womaniser and newfound asshole.

The last part was because of Sage. That redhead vampire had convinced Damon that he owed women pleasure, that a woman wasn't just for blood but for pleasure too. Since that "advice", Damon had been fucking away with any woman that crossed his line.

Cassiopeia guessed she wasn't that much of a saint either, Sage had taught her some tricks too.

Cassiopeia had been no fun either, she had been still grieving her family and calling herself a spoken for woman even thought her husband was dead. But Sage was having none of that, and she "helped" Cassiopeia have more fun and enjoy sex and pleasure without feeling guilty.

Of course, that wasn't something she was proud of, but it had been a nice change. There was nothing wrong in being a prude, but if you were to spend immortality in this cruel world, you had to have some kind of defence mechanism and some kind of power. You couldn't let people see you weak, you couldn't let people walk over you.

And that was another thing Sage thought Cassiopeia.

As she made her way towards her car to go to he house to talk to Damon about the murders, she saw a figure resting against her car. She slowed down shorty, but then continued as she recognised the man. When he saw her approaching, he straightened and smirked.

"Hello, love."

"Hey, Kol," she said conversationally. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to properly thank you for everything you did to help us," Kol muttered, hands on his pockets, giving off a boyish look.

"Didn't had much of a choice, did I? Your brother threatened me and my family."

"That's not what I meant. If you hadn't told us we would've been dead by now." Kol paused. "You didn't had to, but you did."

His words were warm and boarding on nice, something she never thought someone as Kol could achieve to. It warmed her, how they kept on thanking her. But she understood, she would've been just as thankful as they are if they saved her family. But still, his cold brown eyes seemed to soften as he looked at her...and that was nice, finally having some sort of gratefulness on person.

"That's...nothing," Cassiopeia shrugged, looking down.

"No, no, darling. You gotta claim it, embrace it. We owe you now, and when someone owes you something you gotta claim it. Even more if it's us."

She giggled despite herself. "Okay then, you're very welcome."

A buzz interrupted them.

He grinned at her, moving his hands from his pockets, guiding them to his jacket. He patted it a couple of times before taking out a phone. He looked momentarily down at it, then looked at Cassiopeia again, putting it on his pocket again. She was impressed he knew how to manage one, considering he'd been awake for, like, three days.

"So, tell me, darling, what have you been up to?" Kol moved his eyebrows seductively, making Cassiopeia roll her eyes.

She hesitated before leaning against her car at Kol's side. "Can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Well, dear, if it involves us getting naked again," his smirk widened as he paused. "I'm certainly not going to say no."

"Maybe later," Cassiopeia didn't blew away his offer, because she had actually enjoyed very much the night they shared together. "But it's about last night."

Kol stared at her unblinkingly, and she took that as her signal to continue.

"What happened after I left?" she wanted to know, curiosity was killing her. "I mean, it's obvious it worked because you're alive, but what about Esther and Finn?"

"Esther is gone, and so is Finn." Kol paused, his eyes getting cold again. "I think Finn is still here, but Esther appeared in our house today, and died." he paused again, letting his words sink in. Cassiopeia's eyes widened, and he continued. "The witches turned their back on her, and now she's gone again."

"I'm sorry." Cassiopeia whispered sincerely.

"Don't be," he shrugged, but she knew it probably hurt him. It had been his own mother after all. "She deserved what she got."

There was a small pause between them.

"Are you guys still linked?"

"Nope. That witch, Bonnie, undid the spell. It was very easy to convince her to do it. She was very depressed and angry about Abby, we simply added a little threat to her boyfriend, and she caved like an idiot."

"Poor girl," Cassiopeia winced, pushing back all the unwanted reminders that she had caused that poor witch more torment by transforming her mother. "Are you staying here in Mystic Falls?"

"Yes. At first I was ready to flee, Elijah was leaving too; but Nik convinced us to stay. He really wants us to try being a family again. Sounds cliché and stupid, but it's worth a shot, huh?"

Cassiopeia couldn't help but nod and smile softly. She understood it better than he would believe, after all, she was there on Mystic Falls just because she wanted to try being with her family again. She wanted to give it another shot at being a family.

"I sincerely hope everything turns out alright for you guys," Cassiopeia smiled warmly.

"Thanks, darling." Kol paused. "Are you doing something later?"  
"Actually, yes. I got a job and I need to start investigating—"  
"Investigating?" Kol rose his eyebrows. "Sounds boring, darling. Don't you prefer to do something more...fun?"

His demeanour was calm, but his eyes were on fire, his tone lacing on innuendo. Cassiopeia couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"As tempting as it is, I can't," she sighed. "I'm sorry."

In that moment, the clicking of heels against asphalt made both Cassiopeia and Kol look towards the source of the sound. Rebekah approached them, lots of shopping bags on her hands.

"Hello, dear sister," Kol's tone was sarcastic. "So glad to see you now."

"Hello, Cassiopeia," Rebekah ignored her brother and smiled at the other vampire. "I hope my brother is not bothering you now."

"You wound me, little sister. I would never bother such a lovely lady as Cassie."

Cassiopeia snorted, making Rebekah grin at her. The blonde vampire shared a look with Kol before he rolled his eyes, winked at Cassiopeia and left them alone, waving his hand at them without turning. Cassiopeia then turned back to Rebekah, who smiled brightly at her.

"I wanted to thank you," Rebekah said suddenly, shifting awkwardly.

Cassiopeia was amused by the Original's tactics. First Elijah wrote her a letter, then Kol seemed to feel awkward and had to soften himself to thank her, and now Rebekah . She guessed that they weren't used to thank people, and it warmed her that at least they were thanking her.

Remembering Kol's words about owning it, she returned Rebekah's bright smile to her. "You're very welcome. I'm glad everything turned out alright." she paused. "I heard about Esther. I'm truly very sorry."

"Oh," Rebekah blinked, looking surprised. "Thank you."

Remembering how the blonde Original was used to feel left off, and how she didn't seemed to have real friends, Cassiopeia decided to change that. She knew perfectly well how heart breaking it was to feel like that, how horrible it was to feel alone and to crave attention and love. And no one deserved to go through that.

"I was actually heading home now, but maybe we could hang out sometime...?" Cassiopeia left her offer hang in the air.

Rebekah seemed surprised, but a then she smiled brightly, a laugh escaping her throat. "Yes, of course! I'd like that very much."

Cassiopeia returned her smile, feeling happy to see someone else so happy. Both girls exchanged phone numbers quickly, and then separated as Cassiopeia left for her house and Rebekah continued shopping for an event at school.


End file.
